Mr Snuggles And The Alternate Life
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Oneshot that follows Stains on a Favourite White Shirt - Sometimes, Serena wishes she could go back to the past and change a few things. Unfortunately, you can't change the past without changing the present. Is the happiness she seeks really the happiness she wants?


Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers: (Super) Samurai. This is purely fan-made.

* * *

Serena couldn't understand how Ji could move on so quickly.

While the Samurai and Ji played a board game with the Zords in the common room, Serena went around the house to clean up the toys and clothes.

"Okay, maybe he hasn't quite moved on," Serena muttered as she stepped into Ji's room and saw he had a stash of Jayden's clothes from the baby spell. Most of the kiddie clothes and the toys had been kept in the common room or the bedrooms the kids slept in for convenience. If Ji had some in his room, it meant he was keeping them. Serena couldn't judge him though. She was cleaning the house of all the boys' stuff. Emily's clothes, shoes, colouring books, toys, and her teddy were all hidden under Serena's bed. She couldn't bring herself to get rid of them.

She loved her sister at any age, but the nostalgia was really starting to kick in for Serena. She didn't want to be a kid herself, but she wanted to give Emily that chance again, and make it last so much longer. If she could, she wanted to freeze time when Emily was two, when her life was at its best. It was before she had started getting bullied, before she really knew about her responsibilities of being born into a Samurai family, or just responsibilities in general. Before she knew she had a learning disorder.

Before the world turned against her.

Though Emily was all smiles to this day, Serena wished she could make life easier for her – only because it was her fault Emily's life was so complicated.

She had been so good and strong in everything she had done. Serena had many talents, and being talented was one of them. She did well in school and was always at the top of her class. She excelled in sports and usually earned herself the title of V.I.P. She was popular not only in school, but in her small town as well (though that wasn't much of a feat). She had given Emily so much to live up to, and then by getting too sick to live, she had forced Emily to take her place. Everyone expected everything from Serena's little sister, and no matter how hard Emily tried, she couldn't be Serena.

But at the Shiba House, Emily was Emily. She wasn't Serena's little sister. She never had to live up to Serena. The team got to know Emily, and they loved her just as she was. Growing up with this family, in a city where people didn't know Serena and her accomplishments would make life easier for Emily. She would be happier.

Serena left Ji with some of Jayden's clothes and went to her room. She had a box filled with the boys clothes that she would donate to a shelter so they would be put to good use, and she had put a few aside for when Terran was older. Now she was looking to take a nap. She lay down in her bed and reached for Emily's teddy bear. She cuddled it close to her chest and fell asleep.

-Samurai-

"Emily! For goodness sakes, wake up!"

Serena smacked the spot on the bed where Emily's butt was. It was nearly noon and Emily was still in bed. For as long as she could remember, Emily had always been this way. She would sleep in late because she would go to bed at… Serena wasn't exactly sure what time Emily would go to bed at. Sometimes she would hear the door open up at three in the morning as Emily would sneak back into the Shiba House and would try not to wake her aunt, uncles, Ji, Serena or her Samurai teamates. Most nights she failed, too drunk to know where she was going. At the thought of her sister drunk, Serena groaned. She remembered being eighteen once a long, long time ago. She doubted Emily would. She couldn't imagine what would happen to Emily once she turned twenty-one and could drink legally.

"Five more minutes…"

"You said that three hours ago. Get up, Emily. You have to train the kids."

"BLEH!"

"Get up! They're waiting for you, Emily."

"Ugh, I hate kids. You train them."

"They look up to you, Emy. I don't know why, but they do. If you're going to be a drunken, reckless, yellow Ranger, the least you can do is show up on time and put a little effort into training to help the team. Their lives depend on you!"

Emily groaned loudly as she pulled herself out of bed, "I never asked for this, you know."

"Please don't start this, Emily," Serena muttered as she picked up Emily's training uniform from the floor and tossed it onto the bed so Emily would know where it was. "Can we please have one morning where we don't fight over what you do and don't want to do?"

"If you let me sleep for another five minutes we would," Emily muttered and looked to the clock, "Seriously, Serena, I'm tired and hung over! Why can't I just…"

"Self-inflicted pain deserves no pity," Ji growled from the door, "Up on your feet, Emily. I want you in the dojo in five minutes."

Emily slipped her pants and her shirt on and bumped Ji as she walked by. He grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"You smell of alcohol."

"I got hung over on juice," Emily rolled her eyes, "No shit, I smell like alcohol…"

"Out of my house," Ji pointed to the front door.

Serena looked to Ji sympathetically, "I can…"

"There is no more getting her under control, Serena. She is putting herself and her entire team in danger. What would have happened if a Nighlok had attacked while she was drunk?"

"C'mon, relax," Emily pulled her arm free, "It's not the first time I drink. Nothing's happened. Your precious little Samurai are all fine and dandy. The only difference between today and any other morning is that I didn't have time to shower because you're both being a pain in my ass."

"I said: out." Ji shoved Emily towards the door, "You don't have to go home, but you have to get out of here. Leave your Samuraizer by the door. Your nephew will have to take your place."

"Whatever," Emily tossed the Samuraizer over to Serena and then stormed out of the house. "Fuck this shit. Why did I even bother, anyways?"

Serena watched her sister leave and then took a seat on her bed, "What happened, Ji?"

"I don't know," Ji shook his head, "but it looks like Terran will finally get his shot at being the yellow Ranger."

-Samurai-

Serena woke with a start. Storm barking to be let out to pee had pulled her out of her dream. Wiping the drool from the side of her face, Serena sat up and looked at the teddy in her lap.

"There's no way that was the same Emily."

"I haven't seen you sleeping with a teddy since… I can't remember when."

Serena looked up and saw Emily standing in her doorway. She rolled her eyes and invited her sister into the room while tossing the bear aside.

"Yeah, and now I know why. That things gives me nightmares."

"Serena," Emily picked up the bear and smiled, "Teddy bears are a breed of bears that protect human beings from zombies, the boogeyman, ghosts, goblins, and trolls and when they hug you they leave behind a magic dust that gives little boys and girls good dreams of princesses, superheroes, and candy."

"Then this one is broken," Serena poked the bear in the stomach.

Emily hugged the bear, "It worked fine when I had it. It's not Mr. Snuggles the Bear's fault you're unable to sleep peacefully."

"Ha-ha," Serena rolled her eyes, "What time is it?"

"Dinner time. I came to get you."

"I'm not very hungry."

"Why?"

"Because my stomach hasn't sent the message to my brain that it needs food."

"I mean, what's on your mind. You only skip meals when there's a problem."

Serena sighed and took the bear back from her sister. She hugged it to her chest, "I had a dream you were two again, but we were sixteen years into the future."

"So, was I two for sixteen years, or was I eighteen again?"

"Eighteen. Just a couple years older than Terran, actually."

"That would be weird," Emily wrinkled her nose, "My nephew's practically my age."

"That's not the weird part. You were… you know those shows I used to watch about troubled kids."

"Yeah."

"You were like them. Out late partying, slept in all morning. You didn't care about anyone but yourself. It was the strangest thing."

"I was a troubled kid?" Emily asked, "You must have messed something up, then."

Serena frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I watched some of those shows with you. A lot of the time, kids just need someone to mold themselves after. They need someone in their life that they respect and admire. Normally for me that's you… so if I'm screwed up, what the hell did you do to me?"

"You respect and admire me?" Serena asked and Emily's jaw dropped. She blinked a couple of times and then suddenly got up and picked up Serena's cell phone. "Emy, what are you doing?"

"Dialling 9-1-1."

"Why?"

"Obviously you hit your head and you're suffering from really, really bad amnesia. Like the kind Mia and I had, only weirder because you know who I am, but you don't seem to remember the last eighteen years of me following you around like fourteen year old girls follow Justin Bieber."

"Emily," Serena took the phone from her sister, "It's not _that_. It's just… I screw up."

Emily rolled her eyes, "Ugh, not this again. Serena…"

"No, Em, listen. In my dream you grew up differently. You weren't living in my shadow. You had a better life. You were happier."

"Doesn't sound like it," Emily muttered. "Besides, I like being in your shadow. Sometimes it's a little too dark and I need to step away for a bit, but if I had to be in someone's shadow, I'm glad it's yours."

"But you had so much to live up to. I don't want to toot my own horn, but before I got sick…"

"You were amazing, Serena," Emily nodded her head. "You were smart, you were funny, and you were nice. You never gave up, you worked really hard, and you had your priorities straight."

"Yeah, but the expectations…"

"Serena, people could have expected worse from me, and you know how I don't like to disappoint people. It wasn't always easy having you for a big sister and trying to live up to you, and sometimes I wish you weren't… you, but I wouldn't trade my childhood in for another one. You can't expect to change my childhood and not change who I am."

"I want you happier."

"I am happy, I promise," Emily pulled Serena in for a tight hug, "I have an amazing older sister, and an amazing surrogate for when you do screw up. I have awesome brothers, a beautiful, and much younger nephew, and the most incredible fiancé, and that's all thanks to you."

"Really?"

"Well, actually, mom and dad had a big hand too," Emily chuckled, "But you were my role model."

Emily gave Serena a kiss on the cheek and then pointed to the teddy bear, "See, Mr. Snuggles didn't give you a nightmare. He was trying to cheer you up. That's teddy's day job."

"So you don't mind the pressure then?"

"It made me who I am. Whether I like it or not."

"Do you like who you are?"

"Yeah," Emily nodded. "Do you like who I am?"

"Always."

Emily smiled and hugged her sister again, "I've lived up to my own expectations, then."


End file.
